The Readiness of the North for the Restructuring of Nigeria Should Not Be Taken for Granted or Business as Usual- Bashir Dalhatu

“The task of a leader is to get his people from where they are, to where they have not been. The public does not fully understand the world to which it is going, leaders must invoke the alchemy of great vision. Those leaders who do not are ultimately judged failure, even though they may be popular at the moment”- Henry Kissinger

The controversy over the jettisoning of the 1999 constitution, which in other words is the overhaul of the constitution, which has been described as illegitimate, being a product of the military regime, under the former head of state, General Abdhul Sallam Abubakar, is almost coming to a terminating point as all the major ethnic nationalities in Nigeria have come to terms with the need to have an entity called Nigeria, restructured and with a birth of a People’s democratic constitution that will address the problem of pluralism of the country once and for all. It seemed like two of the major ethnic groups, being the Yorubas and the Igbos had hitherto held unto a notion that suggests that the Northerners were averse to a new constitution for the country, as well as the restructuring of the country into regions as it was under the 1963 constitution, which granted autonomy to the 3 major regions in existence, allowing them to develop at their pace.

However, the development that unfolds lately and has been made possible by the declarations of two eminent personalities from the Northern part of the country, namely Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, who is the newly appointed Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the erudite scholar Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, who is the Spokesperson and the Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum, did help to shed more light on the true position of the North regarding the matters of birthing a new constitution and the restructuring of the country. They, at different fora, indicated clearly and without mincing words that the North is more than ready to have the country Nigeria restructured, as long as that is a path that leads to progress and the development of Nigeria for all.

According to the Elder Statesman, Bashir Dalhatu, who also is the Waziri of Dutse, in a speech he delivered at a luncheon held in his honor to commemorate his appointment as the Chairman Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum, he indicated to his guests who earlier on did shower encomium on him that he will discharge his duties in and out office that he was just appointed into with diligence and the fear of God. He promised also that he would work hard to restore Arewa back of its lost glorious days of honor and strength as it was during the time of Sardauna, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the former premier of the Northern region.  He also attributed the reasons for the decline of the Northern region as both self-inflicted and imposition by others, but assures that he would try to eliminate the self-inflicted weaknesses that has caused Arewa a lot of pain, as well as guide against those from other parts of the country, who have always had ulterior motives in their minds each time they met in the past to discuss the progress of the country. He disclosed the weakness of the Arewa people in the past as being too accommodative of other members of the entity that makes up Nigeria and promised that whenever another opportunity opens up, whether it is for the purpose of discussing a new constitution or restructuring the country, as far as they are concerned, it won’t be business as usual. He promised also to correct the wrong impression held by others who see Arewa as a bunch of parasite and weaklings who have descended from power, strength and dignity. He disclosed with nostalgia that even when the colonial masters came to Nigeria, it was only in the North that they had no reason or cause to change the system of government they met on ground when they were leaving, as well as not being able to tamper with the vast natural resources that the North is endowed with, which is yet to be harnessed.

Moreover, the point of concern which calls for introspection by all well-wishers and lovers of the North is on how far reaching the reforms that will take the North back to its glorious days of honor, strength and power will go without promoting those factors that contributed to the backwardness of the region while trying to move it forward with the reality of the requisite factors for modernization. Since the benchmark to be used for determining the achievement of the intended progress is the state that the Northern Nigeria was during the time of Sardauna, it is therefore important also to bring to the fore, some of the attributes that epitomize the ideological point of view of the Elder Statesman himself, Sir Ahmadu Bello. Don’t forget also that the secret of any great man is in his story and here we go:

I am not unaware that I have often been a controversial figure. I have been accused of lack of nationalism and political awareness because I considered that independence must wait until a country has the resources to support and make a success of independence. I have been accused of conservatism because I believe in retaining all that is good in our old traditions and customs and refusing to copy all aspects of other alien civilizations have been accused of many things, but the views of others have never made me deviate from the path which I am certain is the one which will benefit my people and country. I have always based my actions on my inward convictions, on my conscience and on the dictates of my religion. –Sir Ahmadu Bello

Going by the statement credited to the Elder Statesman, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and the former premier of the Northern region, one needs the wisdom of both the old and the young to distill the old non-working ideas from the new ideas that make for equity, justice, progress, and unity within the Northern part of the country in particular, and Nigeria in general. Take cognizance of the number of out of school child in the North, the high rate of unemployment, and the high rate of insecurity and consider the ideological factors that contributed to these problems.

Furthermore, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, in his own wisdom and perspective about the restructuring of the country Nigeria, in relation to the position of the North, is of the opinion that the Northerners are not slaves or idiots, and do not need anyone to tell them what is in their own interest. He believes that Northerners know what injustice is and don’t need to be told, and if people had problems with Buhari, they should say so and not generalize, by making Buhari’s problems to be the problems of the Northerners. He also makes it clear that the Northerners built the country like everybody else, make mistakes like everybody else, and fix them like everybody else. He warns that people should stop supporting the history that says only one part built the good part of the country and other parts were only resisting. He admonishes the Northerners to identify their roles in the country, even as they are proud of looking for partners to partner with and build a nation that their forefathers, like Tafawa Balewa, dreamt of.

“Bello’s greatest legacy was the modernization and unification of the diverse people of Northern Nigeria. His personal residence in Kaduna, now called Arewa House (Gidan Arewa), was transformed to a museum and centre for research and historical documentations managed by the Ahmadu Bello University”.

Now that the readiness of the North for the birth of a new constitution for Nigeria and restructuring of the country, is no longer a subject for speculation or conjecture, the stage is now set to move Nigeria forward. It is important to note also that the unity of the country is paramount and this will remain elusive in the absence of equity and justice. A divided house is a weak house that cannot stand the test of time, for divided we fall, and unity we stand.

Since charity is expected to begin at home, it is therefore incumbent on the champions of the cause of restoring for the North its past glory, to look in the direction of uniting all the states and people that make up the Northern part of the country, by removing all divisive factors, especially religious bigotry and intolerance. The North, without gainsaying the fact, is blessed with the abundance of natural resources that positions the region as a global competitor but without challenges that come with exercises such as restructuring, Northerners may not appreciate or see clearly what they have as assets, being beclouded by the forces of dependence on the center for survival, necessity is the mother of invention.

On a final note, “Remember this lesson, history does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new road, people get the history they deserve.”- Charles de Gaulle

It is important, also, to note what a wise man instructs that “to grow, a lobster must shed its own shell numerous times, each shedding renders the creature totally defenseless until the new shell forms. When risk becomes frightening, think of the lobster. Vulnerability is often the price of growth. Be confident, for nothing is impossible for a willing mind”. Long live Arewa, long live Nigeria.